The series is a World War II war comic set in the shared Marvel Universe. Savage himself had previously appeared as "The Skipper", a recurring character in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.
The series picks up just after Savage has been transferred to the marines, with his new Sergeant still unsure about his leadership. In contrast to Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, it's largely focused on the War in Asia and the Pacific, so the enemies they face are usually Japanese soldiers, not Germans.
The first issue was released November 9, 1967. The series ended with issue #19 (cover dated March, 1970).
One of the Raiders, Jay Little Bear, subsequently appeared as a regular cast member in another Marvel war comic, Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen. Captain Savage himself (looking younger than might be expected) has made brief appearances in a couple of The Incredible Hulk's modern-day stories.
Alternate versions of Savage and Little Bear also made a minor appearance in the Squadron Sinister miniseries, as part of Marvel's Secret Wars (2015) event.
Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders provides examples of:
- 0% Approval Rating: Colonel Sakata is hated by the Americans - and also by his Japanese superiors.Ben Grimm: Yeah! I've heard of ya... just like everyone's heard of cancer. They say you're such a sweetie, ya even give your own brass the creeps. Your cruelty and ambition gotcha stuck away at this supply base-propaganda station so they don't hafta look at ya... or promote ya!
- Arms Dealer: Jake Malloy, Savage's Criminal Doppelgänger, is an arms dealer supplying pro-Japanese insurgents.
- Assassin Outclassin': A sniper tries to kill Captain Savage while he's back on base, spending an evening with Love Interest Michelle. He gets knocked out and handed over to the Military Police when he comes into the building to finish off his targets. And then it turns out that he was an American agent aiming for Savage's Criminal Doppelgänger, Jake Malloy.
- Bluff the Imposter: Australian politician Herbert Cholmondeley, a Japanese asset, manages to pull this on Savage, who's impersonating another Japanese agent, by asking which members of the Japanese high command backed his proposals. He already knows the answer, but Savage dossn't.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Downplayed a little, as they're both very capable, but Savage and Yates are very different in style and personality.
- The Casanova: When he's not on a mission, Corporal Laroque seems very focused on meeting attractive women - and seems to be a pretty successful charmer when he does (although he's sometimes called out on his taller tales of heroism).
- Caught Monologuing: Colonel Sakata subjects Savage to a long rant while holding a tortured, semi-conscious Ben Grimm hostage at gunpoint. He's so focused on the speech to Savage that he doesn't notice Grimm's recovering until he grabs the gun.
- Covers Always Lie: One cover shows the raiders surfing into battle in full uniform for a beach assault, keeping their balance on the boards while firing guns at their Japanese opponents. They do use surfboards in the story, but only to swiftly reach an island so they can surprise the Japanese beach patrol. They unpack their guns and uniforms once they land.
- Criminal Doppelgänger: Captain Savage looks exactly the same as Arms Dealer Jake Malloy, who's been supplying Japanese-allied guerrillas in Burma. After an American agent mistakenly tries to assassinate Savage, he shaves his beard and moustache to reduce the resemblance.
- Danger Room Cold Open: One issue opens with Savage waiting for his squad to retrieve secret plans from a safe, conscious that time is running out. It's revealed to be a training exercise, with the enemies they're shooting at unseen practice targets. Another issue has them swimming to the shore through a naval minefield full of dummy mines.
- Death Course: Baron Strucker has filled Hydra Island with deadly traps, as the Raiders and the Samurai Squad discover.
- Demolitions Expert: Bookworm and ex-teacher Lee Baker is the squad's explosives expert.
- Enemy Mine: The Raiders and the Japanese Samurai Squad form a fragile alliance against Baron Strucker when they realise that Hydra has been raiding both sides, and that they'll need to work together to escape his Island Base alive.
- Fake Defector: Australian soldier Rolfe Harrison gets a dishonorable discharge and some bad press, paving the way for The Quisling, Cholmondeley, to recruit him for his forgery skills. All of which was staged by Savage and Morton to get him into Cholmondeley's house and organisation.
- Friendly Rivalry: Between Savage and Nick Fury, and consequently between the Raiders and the Howling Commandos.
- Funetik Aksent: Canadian-born Corporal Laroque's strong French accent tends to replace "the” with "ze" in his dialogue.
- Handy Helper: The Raiders need rescued American pilot Ben Grimm to fly them out of Sakata's base in a stolen Japanese bomber, but Grimm's hands have been badly burned during the escape. Captain Savage, who's never flown a plane before, ends up piloting, with Grimm talking him through every step.
- Island Base: The Raiders and the Japanese Samurai Squad both track a series of submarine attacks back to an isolated island, with each one suspecting the other side is responsible. It turns out that it's a secret base for Baron Strucker and his evil organisation Hydra, who have been raiding both navies.
- I Surrender, Suckers: When the Raiders are detained in a Japanese prison camp the camp's interpreter, American missionary Father Thompson, helps them escape. As part of that plan the priest meets with a Japanese officer at the docks, under a white flag of truce - before putting him in an armlock with a gun to his head,
- Killed Off for Real: Lee Baker's killed by a Japanese sniper midway through the series.
- New Season, New Name: The series was renamed to Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders with issue #9, which coincided with the captain shaving off his beard and moustache.
- Old Soldier: Sergeant Yates is a career soldier who's been in the Marines for twenty years or more and doesn't see the attraction of civilian life.
- The Quisling: Herbert Cholmondeley, who narrowly failed to be elected as Australia's Prime Minister, is now a Japanese collaborator with a plan to wreck the Australian economy and then take power with Japan's support.
- Safecracking: 'Blarney' Stone is able to crack a safe (and also pretty good at picking locks).
- Secret Test: The Raiders attempt to capture two high-ranking Japanese generals. The Japanese are expecting them and so the mission goes wrong from the start. Savage and Baker are quickly captured and interrogated. The others are captured within the target building, then lined up for a firing squad execution. The end of the issue reveals that it was a secret exercise, with all "Japanese" soldiers played by Nisei American troops. The Raiders failed, so will receive a month of intense training before their next real mission.
- Seppuku: After the Raiders rescue ace pilot Ben Grimm and ruin Colonel Sakata's propaganda broadcast, the Japanese High Command asks him for an explanation. The Colonel, sinking into despair, simply asks someone to bring his sword.
- Sergeant Rock: Sergeant Yaketty Yates is a career soldier and sometimes a grumbling blowhard, but with the skills to back it up. Given how long he's served in a frontline role, he's initially a bit wary of a sailor like Savage coming in to lead the squad, but it works out.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: Japan and the USA are at war, so provoking a fight isn't difficult, but Baron Strucker gleefully manipulates things so that the squads from those nations investigating Hydra's raids on their shipping clash with each other instead. They eventually work it out, though, leading to a fragile Enemy Mine alliance between the Raiders and the Samurai Squad.
- Taking You with Me: The Japanese commander in the first issue throws a burning torch towards the explosives store, then shoots himself, hoping the Raiders will perish when the whole base collapses in the blast. Jay intercepts the falling torch with an arrow, saving everyone.
- Time-Delayed Death: A downplayed example. Lee Baker takes a sniper's bullet to the back of the head, but the shock means he doesn't initially realise he's hit. He has a second or two - enough time to say a few words - before he collapses and dies.
- Tokyo Rose: Colonel Sakata runs a Japanese propaganda broadcast. He plans to torture captured American ace pilot Ben Grimm into confessing to atrocities such as bombing hospitals and strafing civilians. It doesn't quite work out that way.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Issue #11, the Crossover with Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was titled "Death of a Leatherneck" and promoted that way at the end of the previous issue. The cover even shows a worried Savage glancing at a prone Raider, lying face down. It's played straight, and Lee Baker's killed by a sniper. The story doesn't make a huge attempt to hide the victim's identity, as the figure on the cover is recognisably Lee although his face is mostly hidden - and most other Leathernecks have distinctive features that don't match the body.
- Torture Technician: Colonel Sakata is implied to be a very skilled torturer.
- Uncertain Doom: Savage's Criminal Doppelgänger, Jake Malloy, is captured at the end of the story introducing him, with the Raiders bringing him back for trial. However, he's also concealed a file and is last seen working on escaping his handcuffs. As the story starts with American agents trying to murder Malloy rather than arrest him, even though they're on an American naval base at the time, there's also a question about whether he'll actually get that trial.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Savage is knocked unconscious by depth charges, Captain Griggs resumes command of the Sea Wolf, surrendering as soon as the Japanese tell him they've wired mines to the submarine. Griggs is there when Savage wakes up in a Japanese prison camp afterwards, but then completely vanishes from the story, with nothing to confirm whether he's part of the Raiders' escape bid.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The first issue of the retitled Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders starts with a newly clean-shaven Savage leading the squad on a training exercise, then flashes back to their last mission for the rest of the story.
